COUNTY MAGAZINES This column is so often an obituary of
England's beauty that you may have the impression that no one cares for any- thing except by-passes, concrete lamp-standards and making things convenient for motor-cars. But I find, timong young people especially and the very old, that the tide is turning in favour of the preservation of the few untouched places which remain. One tangible sign of this is the increase in local county periodicals. These are more attractive and readable publica- tions than the transactions of local antiquarian societies. They are produced on shiny paper and are full of photographs of local villages, churches, customs and country houses. For instance, there is the Derbyshire Countryside, the Leicester and Rutland Magazine and the Bedfordshire Magazine. There are various West Country county magazines, and even Middle- sex has its Middlesex Quarterly, which unearths the few re- maining beauties of that maltreated and once wonderful little county. Soon, perhaps, this local enthusiasm and appreciation will seep down to local councils.
Previous page
